"The lunar satellite Chang'e -1 will end its mission by crashing into the Moon in a chosen time, " said a top official with China's State Defense Science and Technology Industry Bureau.
He said it would mark the completion of the first phase of the lunar exploration program, and the start of the second phase. But he did not mention when and how the collision was going to take place.
Chang'e-1 was launched on Oct. 24, 2007 as the country's first moon orbiter. It has a design work life of one year, but has been working in a good condition for 15 months, with abundant fuel left.
"Hitting the moon is an international practice for moon orbiters to end their tasks, " said Ouyang Ziyuan, CAS academician and leading scientist of moon exploration project. "It will help us to collect useful data for satellites' landing on the moon in future."
Ouyang said that Chang'e-1, with a size of 7.5 cubic meters, is more than seven times the size of Europe's first moon orbiter Smart-1. It will make a larger pit and stir up more dust than the European satellite when crashing into the moon.
Smart-1 made a hole of 30 square meters and stirred up dust as thick as more than 10 kilometers when bumping into the moon in 2006.
Analysis of dust produced when the satellite crash the moon can help explain the origin of the moon which is still a disputable topic for modern science, explained Xiao Naiyuan, an astronomer with Nanjing University.
The technology used for changing the orbit before hitting the moon could also be used for real landing, said Xiao. Chinese scientists hoped that Japanese and Indian satellites could help to deliver the data of the crash if they would be on the right side of the moon at that time.
